Ambassador Papyrus Does His Best
by InsanelyA.D.D
Summary: Papyrus becomes Ambassador for all monsters, and he'll be doing his best to strive for peace. But will his best be good enough? (Post-pacifist, Ambassador Papyrus, Papyrus-centric)
1. First Contact

A/N: Did you know if Frisk declines to become Ambassador, Papyrus becomes Ambassador instead? I ask because a lot of people seem to not know, leading to there being an extreme lack of Ambassador Papyrus content. So here I am, trying to fill that void.

 **Ch. 1: First Contact**

Papyrus stares into the sunset. Or was it a sunrise? He can't tell, with it being his first time on the surface and all, he doesn't actually recall where it rises from or where any of the cardinal coordinates are in relation to his current location. Then Papyrus heard Asgore speak.

"Will you act as our ambassador to the humans?" He glances to the corner of his eye socket just in time for the human to respond with a 'no'. He began to speak immediately afterward.

"IT'S OK FRISK! I'VE GOT YOU COVERED! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE THE AMBASSADOR...I CAN DO IT FOR YOU!" He immediately turned on his heel, "I'LL GO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!" And he took off in a full sprint, excited to meet humans, excited at all the possibilities the surface held for them.

~~~~/\/\/\~~~~

He ran into his brother partway down the mountain. Considering none of them had left the mountain before... "SANS! DID YOU PUT A PHALANGE IN MY BOOT AGAIN?" He immediately stopped and rattled his boots, finding the culprit in his left boot. He groaned and pulled it off before shaking the 'misplaced' finger bone into his open hand. After re-strapping his boot on he shoved the finger in Sans' waiting outstretched palm, before tossing him over his shoulder full aware that his brother only did this to hitch a ride down the rest of the mountain, admiring the fiery shades of the leaves.

At the base of the mountain they came across a sentry station of some sort. He set his brother down on a picnic table in the clearing and approached the new building. Potential first contact! Exciting! He looked in the windows, a human was seated behind a desk reading a newspaper, and faintly he could hear the static of a radio playing inside. He followed the exterior wall of the station until he found a door. He stopped himself before he got a chance to turn the handle. _'WHAT IF THE HUMAN IS STARTLED BY ME JUST WALKING INTO THEIR STATION? WHAT IF I FRIGHTEN THEM SO BADLY THAT THEY ATTACK ME? BETTER NOT RISK IT.'_ So he knocked on the door instead.

"One second!" The human from inside called, followed by the creak of a chair and some papers rustling. Sans casually waited at the picnic table he was left at, offering a lazy thumbs up at his brother. The blinds on the door parted a little, and Papyrus put on his friendliest smile and waved in a hopefully non-threatening manner at the human. This immediately preceded the blinds flicking shut, a rather loud 'thump', a yelp of pain, and several curse words. Sounds like the human was so startled that they hurt themself. Papyrus out of concern tried the doorknob, and upon finding it unlocked slowly slid the door open; cautious, just in case the human wasn't out of the way of the door.

He poked his head in to find the human sprawled out on the floor staring up at him in pure terror. "HUMAN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" The human did a very good impression of someone trying to do a sprint on ice with their hands. Frantically trying to retreat but not getting anywhere. They refused to move one of their legs however and every time it was jostled they would wince in pain. He took a step forward, intending to help them-

"Stay back!" The human was fumbling with something on their belt. Papyrus quickly knelt down.

"I HAVE NO INTENTION OF HARMING YOU, HUMAN! I AM THE AMBASSADOR FOR ALL OF MONSTERKIND AFTER ALL. AND ALSO, IT WOULD BE VERY RUDE?" Papyrus gingerly placed a gloved hand on the human's ankle, focusing on healing it. They must have turned too quickly and twisted it when they saw him. The human's face went from fearful and twisted with pain to astonished. Then fearful again.

"Th-there's more of you?"

"WHY, YES! THOUGH I ASSURE YOU, NONE OF THEM WILL ATTACK ANY HUMANS! UNLESS THE HUMANS CHALLENGE THEM TO A PLAYFUL FIGHT. WE LOVE THOSE!" Suddenly Sans peaked out from behind his taller brother.

"oh hey, a human." He casually held out his hand. "'sup. name's sans, sans the skeleton." The human slowly reached out their hand and shook his.

"Uh, Garret, Park Ranger Garret Larson." Papyrus slapped himself in the face.

"OH! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO INTRODUCE MYSELF!" He held out his hand now, "I AM PAPYRUS! AMBASSADOR PAPYRUS!" When the human's hand was securely in Papyrus' grip he pulled him up to his feet with ease.

"Uh, you already said that-"

"I KNOW, BUT I WAS ONLY JUST APPOINTED." He brought his hand to the side of his mouth like he was telling a secret, "AND I AM STILL RATHER GIDDY ABOUT IT."

The human scrubbed a hand down his face before running it back through his hair. "Okay, so." He took in a deep breath and looked up at Papyrus. "I'm not dreaming?"

"NOPE."

"Monsters are real?"

"yep." Just to demonstrate - or maybe just to mess with the human - Sans pulled off one of his arms and scratched his back with it. The Ranger's eyes widened before he peeled his eyes away and looked out the window to try calming down. Only for Undyne to slam out of the woods, looking around with a manic grin on her face. The second she spotted Papyrus she barreled through a window and attempted to tackle him. Papyrus noticed just in time and dodged before turning her blue and sticking her to the ceiling.

"Aww! C'mon Pap!"

"UNDYNE! I AM TRYING TO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION ON THIS HUMAN," He gestured vaguely to the man who had ran behind his desk to get his two-way radio. "AND YOU JUST BROKE HIS WINDOW!"

"Ah, shi-shoot." She censored herself at the glare Papyrus shot her. He released his magic and she dropped down. Then Alphys cautiously peeked in the door, before she swung it open to reveal herself and Asgore standing just outside. Alphys entered, leaving Asgore still outside as the door was much too small for him to go through. Undyne turned back to the Park Ranger who was frantically talking to someone over the radio.

"-Not evil, but trust me you have to see this! I am not BS-ing you I swear Shauna! There are real monsters in my station!"

Over the radio came the crackly voice of Shauna, "Uh-huh. What kind of monsters are they then, Gary?"

"Two skeletons, one of which claims to be the Ambassador, a uh-" He glanced over, "Fish person, a lizard in a labcoat, and a goat? Rabbit? So big he can't even get inside. C'mon, please, you have to see this. I made first contact with a whole new species!"

A sigh from the human on the other end of the radio. "Fine. I'll be right up."

The man turned to face the monsters who had left very little room for maneuvering in his station. His station wasn't even that small! Undyne was the first to speak up.

"Uh, sorry about breaking your window, human." She nervously scratched the back of her head. He glanced over, seemingly only now aware that she has easily destroyed a screen.

"That's...that's fine. At least it wasn't glass. And my name is Garret Larson. But you can call me Gary."

"WELL GARY, IT IS VERY NICE TO HAVE MET YOU! DO YOU KNOW HOW WE COULD PEACEFULLY INTRODUCE OURSELVES TO ALL OF HUMANKIND? PERHAPS CALLING IN A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL? I WOULD DO IT MYSELF BUT SEEING AS HOW WE'RE NEW AROUND HERE I DONT REALLY HAVE ANYONE'S NUMBER."

"I figured. That's why I radioed up Shauna. She's my superior and would know how to do something like that. Maybe. But I also called her just to make sure I'm not having some kind of vivid hallucination." A silence. "She should be here in a few minutes."

"Thank you for being so hospitable towards us, Gary." Came the rumble of Asgore's voice just outside the window. He stuck his hand through the window where the screen used to be. "I am Asgore Dreemurr, King of Monsters." Gary shook his hand, mildly terrified of his much bigger it was than his own.

He turned and came face to chest with the tall blue fish woman. She stuck her hand out for him to shake. "Name's Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard. Or...former Captain I guess. Not really sure if that'll be necessary now." She glanced out the window as she practically crushed Gary's hand in her grip.

"Depending on the speed of our integration we may still need the guard to protect the citizens, Undyne." Came Asgore's voice from outside. Her face lit up at that.

"SWEET! So I'm still Captain!" She pumps her fist into the air.

Alphys nervously looked at the human, wanting to introduce herself but not really sure how to. Papyrus places a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned with a shaky one of her own before carefully approaching Gary. She chose not to hold out her hand and instead plainly introduced herself.

"I-I'm Alphys, f-former Royal S-s-scientist." Gary nodded his head in confirmation.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all, but Shauna should be here s-" The sound of an ATV cut him off, followed by the distinct sound of a woman shouting 'What the hell?!'

"Howdy!" Asgore greeted the newly arrived human. The door burst open, a woman running in.

"You weren't bullshitting me!" It was then Shauna noticed all the other monsters inside the station. "Holy shit."

"HELLO NEW HUMAN!" Papyrus enthusiastically held out his hand, "I AM PAPYRUS, MONSTER AMBASSADOR." And she shook his hand, and everyone else that offered their's paired with a name.

"So, uh..." Shauna began. "Where did you all come from?"

"The mountain," Asgore said, his almost mournful tone surprising the humans. A sweep of the other monster's reactions revealing quite a lot of pain. "We were trapped inside...for nearly a thousand years. Sealed away by humans at the end of a war that incredibly diminished our numbers." Gary looked terrified at this, Shauna seemed conflicted, but mostly sad.

"We would like to get into contact with your government as soon as possible to inform the rest of humanity of our return." Shauna gave a nod, reaching into her pocket for a special satellite phone.

"I do have this phone for emergencies, not really sure if they'll believe me, but I'll try to get ahold of someone." With that she left the cramped cabin, walking a decent distance away before dialing in a number. It seemed to start normally enough, exchanging greetings, a little bit of small talk, the cautious introduction of the current dilemma involving the monsters, a pause as she held the phone away from her ear. Though the person on the other end was undoubtedly screaming, it almost sounded like a whisper to those in the station.

It was around this point Toriel showed up with Frisk in tow. She decided top sit at a picnic table on the other side of the cabin from Asgore as she, too, was unable to fit through the station door. Shauna brought the phone back to her ear, a fierce determination in her eyes. A calm explanation that she wasn't lying back at whomever she was speaking to, however with each back and forth she got progressively more annoyed. Finally she was storming to the station, yelling about doing a video chat.

"Could you guys come out here please? This fu-guy... _refuses_ to believe me!" At that the monsters filed out of the cabin, the two Boss Monsters standing from their respective tables to join the small group out front. Shauna fiddled with the phone and finally managed to get the video chat function before turning the camera towards the monsters, who all put on their best smiles. The man on the phone, who only Shauna could see became frightened for a second before schooling a scowl back onto his face.

"How do I know this isn't some elaborate CGI prank?" The lady park ranger gave a sigh so frustrated that it almost came out a scream.

"Tell them to say something then!"

"Fine! Say the Pledge of Allegiance." There was a notable pause from the monsters where they confusedly looked between each other.

"Sir, they have literally been under a mountain for almost a thousand years, I doubt they know the Pledge."

"Ridiculous." He grumbled. "Then repeat after me: I am not a CGI prank and am an actual monster. Then say your name."

Everyone followed his directions except for Sans who instead of saying his name at the end said 'then say your name.' On the phone out of the monsters view, the man's jaw dropped, terrified. For a solid minute there was nothing but an awkward silence where no one moved, except to shuffle in place. Quietly, fearfully, the man on the phone spoke.

"I need to make a call." And with that he hung up.

"So more waiting then?" Undyne huffed. She was getting impatient, she had thought that by this point she would have noogied at least five humans. It had even started getting dark, confirming that it was the sunset they were looking at.

"It appears so," Asgore rumbled, "Though I am beginning to get worried that the rest of monsterkind might soon try to leave the mountain. Someone needs to go back to make sure they don't get lost in the woods or leave the area until we are given proper authorization. I would go back, but as the king I need to stay to greet whatever official may come."

"I'LL DO IT!"

"but bro, you're the ambassador. you gotta stay here too."

"I WON'T DO IT!"

"I would be happy to do it, as long as someone watches over Frisk while I'm gone." Toriel offered.

"sure, i'll keep an eye socket on the kid."

"Excellent, thank you Sans!" Toriel gently hugged Frisk goodbye before taking off in a sprint back up the mountain.

"So...what's happened since we were sealed?" Asgore asked, trying to break the ice.

"We forgot about your existence." Shauna replied bluntly.

A beat of awkward silence.

"NGAAAAHHHHH! I CAN'T TAKE THIS!" Undyne jumped to her feet, before running off in the direction the city seemed to be.

"UNDYNE, NO!" Papyrus took off, trying to catch her. "WE DON'T NEED FIRST CONTACT WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO BE YOU SCREAMING!" His voice faded the farther into the woods he went.

"Uh, sh-should we do something about them?" Gary asked.

"I think they will be fine." Shauna said.

"why do you think that?"

"Because. Halloween is next week."

"What is a 'Halloween'?" The king inquired.

"Oh boy." Shauna sighed.

~~~~/\/\/\~~~~

Somewhere, in a rather suburban neighborhood, a blue fish woman with red hair burst from the woods howling with laughter, before darting down the street with an inhuman speed. Moments later a skeleton burst through the canopy of the trees, seeming to almost fly as the momentum of a supposed jump propelled him half way down the street, before he took off in a full sprint, close behind the fish woman.

Across the street from this, a sole human on the porch of a house where a party currently was, looked in horror at his solo cup of booze before dumping it into the nearby bush.

~~~~/\/\/\~~~~

At this point Papyrus was close enough to cast blue magic on her, causing her to stumble slightly before she kept running, though struggling more due to the feeling of increased gravity. He used this opportunity to take another flying leap at her, tackling her to the ground successfully.

"UNDYNE! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO STAY WITH OUR GROUP UNTIL WE GOT INTO CONTACT WITH PROPER OFFICALS!" Undyne had the decency to look a little ashamed at her impulsiveness. Papyrus rolled to his feet and offered her a hand up.

"Sorry, Pap. I'm just so excited to see more of the surface. The world is so much bigger now, y'know?" She took his hand an hauled herself to her feet. Papyrus sighed, knowing what she meant.

Then they heard a strange sound, almost like a low humming, but more aggressive, like bees. They looked around, until they spotted the two bright white lights speeding right towards them. Taken by surprise they enter their battle stances, Undyne materializing a spear, and Papyrus pulling bones seemingly straight from the earth. Needless to say the car skidded to a stop. The driver cautiously exited the vehicle, hands raised.

"Wh-what do you two want? My car? Cuz, you can have it, just please don't hurt me!" Undyne and Papyrus shared a glance before dematerializing their weapons.

"WE APOLOGIZE FOR FRIGHTENING YOU HUMAN, WE WERE ONLY STARTLED. IT IS OUR FIRST TIME SEEING A CAR IN PERSON!" The human gave them both an incredulous look.

"What? What are you?"

"We're monsters! We just crawled out of that mountain back there!" She jerked her finger back in the direction they had come from, completely missing the look of mortal fear on their face. Papyrus quickly put a hand on Undyne's shoulder, leaning closer.

"YES! AND WE'RE QUITE FRIENDLY! HELLO! I AM PAPYRUS, THE AMBASSADOR! WE WISH ONLY FOR PEACEFUL INTEGRATION!" He held out his gloved hand for this new human to shake, like he had done quite a lot today.

With terror still in their eyes they shook his hand.

Meanwhile someone in the car had phoned the police, while government officials had finally gotten in contact with everyone back at the station. The news being that they will be deploying a small military group to help them and that they shouldn't leave where they currently were. Now this really didn't set any of them at ease. Alphys, Sans, and Asgore shared a paranoid look. They aren't sure what the humans had in store but it probably wasn't to take them to the nearest capital to introduce them on the news. Sans quietly brought up how he had found conspiracy tapes about how the government might be hiding the existence of aliens from the general public. He admitted that it was likely impossible, but he wasn't sure how keen he was to stick around to find out if the rumors could prove true.

They looked at Frisk for their input, as they had lived on the surface longer and probably knew more than table scraps that washed up in a dump under a mountain. Frisk unbeknownst to them was actually really in to documentaries, conspiracies, and mysteries, which was part of the reason they had scaled the mountain in the first place. So this launched Frisk into a list of different experiments that the government had done on their own people without anyone noticing for so long, how the government would initially deny it before decades later revealing that, yes, they did do those things, and related conspiracies.

By the time Frisk was done excitedly telling them about these things they were wracked with enough anxiety that they decided they had to leave, _now_ , Asgore picking everyone up easily and taking off into the woods, after throwing a polite 'Goodbye!' at the unprepared rangers.

The human that almost hit Papyrus and Undyne was distracting them, asking them about where they came from, what it was like, and _how did it snow underground?_ Still, in the car the other human who had gone unnoticed had been streaming this straight to the internet. It had gained incredible numbers as it was rapidly being shared, but still there were skeptical humans who thought this was all prerecorded and edited and other desperate explanations.

Soon enough another sound made itself known to the monsters, hearing slightly sharper than the humans. It was like a scream, but revolving somehow. Then flashing lights appeared down the street, before speeding up to the monsters and the other parked car. It came to an abrupt stop and there seemed to be a notable pause between when the car stopped and two police officers jumped from the car, guns drawn. Both looking quite terrified, one much more so than the other. The calmer of the two spoke up.

"P-put your hands in the air!" He managed to stutter out, both of them complying instantly, which managed to shock them, before the first officer spoke again. "Wh-who are you, _what_ are you?" Papyrus looked at Undyne as she tried to speak first again, which cause her to look back at him, gave a quick nod and let him go first.

"I AM PAPYRUS, AND I AM A SKELETON AS WELL AS AMBASSADOR FOR ALL MONSTER KIND. I WOULD SHAKE YOU HAND LIKE I HAVE BEEN DOING ALL DAY, BUT THEY ARE CURRENTLY RAISED AS PER YOUR REQUEST." He turned back to Undyne.

"And I'm Undyne! Fish monster, and Captain of the Royal Guard for the King of Monsters, Asgore Dreemurr." There was a look of astonishment on both of their faces, which lit a small flicker of pride in both the monsters, a smile pulled across both their faces. Their rather menacing expressions seemed to be the last straw for the more rattled of the two police officers. He took a shot at both of them. The human who had been talking to them earlier dove into their car the second they registered the sound of the gunshots. The first officer and both of the monsters were frozen still with shock, lucky for the monsters that it was a long forgotten fact that bullets, arrows, and similar projectiles carried no intent damage, just physical damage, for which there was fewer repercussions.

However, no one present knew that.

"MCKINNEY!" The first officer screamed at their subordinate. "You just shot a fucking Ambassador and Captain!"

"I know! I know! Oh shit, what did I do?" McKinney dropped her gun, hands clutching her face.

"UM? WE'RE OKAY? MOSTLY." Papyrus spoke up, causing the police to look back up at them in wonder. Papyrus was annoyed and picking at the hole in his armor. Luckily the bullet passed completely through his ribs, not harming him at all, Undyne however...

"Ow! Shit! That hurt." She gave a harsh cough, a bullet falling out of her mouth and into her hand. She rubbed the hole in her chest which was leaking slightly. Papyrus leaned over, manifesting glowing green bone and pressing to the hole. Almost instantly the wound faded away, causing the bone to disperse as well.

"SEE? NO HARM DONE!" He remained cheerful, wanting these surface authorities to calm down. It was about this time that Asgore came running up to them, having used his great sense of smell to track them.

"Oh, hey! Asgore!" Undyne pointed out, causing the police to perk up, the as of yet unnamed one recalling Asgore being the name of the King. What neither of them expected was to see a 9 foot tall goat man in golden armor and a flowing purple cloak to be sprinting up to them and the other offputtingly tall monsters. As soon as he was close all four humans present could recognize that he was holding two smaller monsters (and by small I mean, average adult human sized) and a child.

"Howdy Undyne! And surface guards." He gently placed Sans, Alphys, and Frisk onto the pavement, before reaching out one of his massive fuzzy hands to shake with the officers "I am King Asgore Dreemurr." Overhead there was the sound of a helicopter, something only a few of the monsters present recognized..

"WHY DID YOU LEAVE THE STATION?"

"we were a bit worried about why they wanted us to stay put and not try to make contact with more humans."

"GOT IT." Papyrus turned towards the officers. "WOULD YOU MIND BRINGING UP TO THE NEAREST NEWS OUTLET? WE WOULD LIKE TO REINTRODUCE OUR KIND TO SOCIETY WITHOUT FURTHER INTERFERENCE."


	2. News Experiences

The police car rolled at a relatively slow pace through the streets, lights on but no siren. The reason for this being they were escorting the group of five monsters three of which had to walk due to being too big to fit in the car, while the other two sat in the back seat of the cruiser with Frisk. At this point, they had just entered the city, the streets still sparse of humans, but that was soon to change.

Soon enough they were going parade speed down a street that at first was just holding a bare few humans, but once they began running inside various late-night businesses and calling everyone out into the street that would listen to their claims of gargantuan monsters taking a casual stroll in the road escorted by police. Well, soon enough it looked like an actual parade, the sidewalks packed as people ran ahead, further and further into the heart of the city spreading the news of the monster's arrival. A few humans ran into the street to greet the monsters.

"Oh my god! You're real?! Like, actually totally real!" One slightly dazed human shouted.

"OF COURSE!" Papyrus said, not slowing his pace one second. The pace is actually pretty swift as all the monsters outside the car were athletically inclined.

"You bet!" Undyne agreed.

"Can I touch you?" Another human asked, already reaching forward before they could get an answer.

"UM? NO?" Papyrus was beginning to not like how crowded they were becoming, Asgore feeling similarly, but Undyne was loving every second of the new interaction.

"Who are you?!" Another human, crowded out and unable to be heard without shouting asked.

"I'm Undyne! Captain of the Royal Guard!" A rush of whispers went over the human followers at the word 'royal'.

"Howdy, I'm King Asgore Dreemurr." The King said, soft-spoken as he usually was, though his voice was deep enough to carry to even humans standing on the sidewalk. A new buzz went through the humans, those that were lagging behind unable to keep up the brisk pace the monsters kept have found it in themselves to speed up.

"AND I AM PAPYRUS! AMBASSADOR TO HUMANITY!" Though the true importance of ambassadors is probably lost on the average human (the importance being that an Ambassador is the highest ranked diplomatic position) but still they 'oohed' and 'ahhed' like they had done before. Not only were these real-life monsters but they were also significant amongst 'normal' monsters.

"Where are you going?"

"A NEWS STATION! WE WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES PROPERLY TO THE WORLD." At this several humans pulled out their phones to find the nearest news station.

"The closest one is about five blocks down on Maple Avenue." One particularly speedy human replied.

"Thanks, human!" Undyne said, before leaning forward to double tap the police car's trunk. At that, it sped up to a point where the humans were no longer able to keep up.

"THAT WAS FUN."

"Yeah, and their questions were hilarious!"

A rather short jog later they had arrived at the news station, the late night broadcast just about to start filming. The police pulled to a stop, Undyne and Papyrus walking to the back doors and pulling them open to retrieve their girlfriend and brother respectively, Frisk jumping out after them. Papyrus skipped up to the door, brother tucked under his arm, already snoozing away. He pushed the door open, revealing the towering forms of the monsters to the secretary who froze the second they spotted the seven and a half foot tall skeleton in armor who ducked to get into the rather spacious lobby. Followed by an eight-foot-tall fish woman and a nearly ten foot (including his horns) goat man in a flowing purple cape and golden armor who had to squeeze in through the door.

With the Halloween season in full swing most humans likely would have dismissed the monsters. Except for the fact they were unnaturally tall, and that there is no way for Papyrus to have been anyone in a costume due to his spine being the only thing that made up most of his midsection. The receptionist tried to scoot her chair back, forgetting temporarily that they had recently gone from using wheeled chairs to those exercise balls, and her attempt at scooting back only resulted in her falling back and almost smashing the back of her head on the tiled floor.

That is if it weren't for Papyrus noticing just in time and instinctively using his blue magic to keep her from getting hurt.

"HUMAN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? YOU ALMOST FELL OVER!" Papyrus took a step forward in concern.

"G-get back! Don't hurt me!" She began to fight against the strange unseen force holding her up. Papyrus immediately halted his approach.

"WE HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF HARMING YOU, HUMAN. WE HAVE ONLY JUST ARRIVED BACK ON THE SURFACE, AND WOULD LIKE TO REVEAL OURSELVES TO ALL OF HUMANITY!" Asgore finally got through the doorway.

"If it isn't too much to ask could we please make an appearance on the news, according to the polite officers outside it should be starting soon." The receptionist closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths.

"One moment please." She slowly brought her hands together in front of her, more deep breathing. She appeared to be meditating. She opened her eyes again and picked up the phone, tapping a number on speed-dial. "Yes, sir? There are some monsters here...No, not people that are over-enthusiastic about the costume contest, I mean actual monsters...Sir, there is a 10-foot tall goat man...The police escorted them here...I am 100 percent sure that these are real monsters. There's a skeleton standing right in front of me and he has no stomach...No I mean there's literally just a spine there...Yes, I can see through it just fine." Papyrus scratched his head and looked down at his spine in confusion.

"Alright, sir." She hung up the phone and lifted her head to look back up at them. "The News Director will be out in a moment to see for himself the validity of my claims that there are real-life monsters in our studio." She then slowly leaned forward until she was face down on the desk and began to emit a high pitched muffled scream.

After a minute of her screaming quietly one of the double doors behind her opened, revealing a balding human. Upon seeing the monsters his mouth fell open, and he withdrew back behind the door, slamming it in the process. Then the door opened again and he peaked out. Before shutting it again.

And finally the doors both opened full and he nervously approached the group, a big, slightly frightened smile passing over his face.

"Uh, hello! Where are you from?" He spoke slowly, not sure if these unusual beings before him even understood English.

"Howdy, we came from beneath Mount Ebbot." He blinked at the perfect speech, feeling a bit like an ass.

"Oh. How'd you end up there?" He said quickly, trying to divert attention from his blunder.

"We were trapped there hundreds of years ago by humans." A tense silence in which you could almost hear the director pray for death to take him.

"Well! You managed to get out, how would you feel about being on TV?" He spoke quickly now, covering for his unintentional faux pas with twice the effort. In moments they were ushered from the lobby through a hallway and onto a soundstage that the news was filmed from. The anchors looked away from the teleprompter, the news just barely having started. The female anchor's mouth fell open in shock, the male anchor jumped to his feet, getting ready to run. The camera crew turned to get a shot of what the anchors were reacting to only for the three of them to freeze at what they were picking up.

"Bill, what is going on? Who...what-?" The woman spoke up.

"Relax Cassidy, these are just some, uh-"

"Monsters is the correct term," Asgore assured, his deep voice reverberating easily into the microphones despite the distance.

"Yeah, monsters," Bill continued, "They just managed to escape old Mount Ebbot!"

"The one that's rumored that-" The unnamed anchor began.

"Yes! That one!" The director interrupted. "Now, how's about we get these fine monsters seated on our special guest couches while we head to commercial?"

"Uh, of course," The man turned back to the cameras, "We'll be back with a special exclusive first interview with _real monsters_ after these messages from our sponsors."

As soon as a human wearing a headset gave the all clear both the anchors shot from their seats. Cassidy making a beeline right for the monsters, the man hanging back more cautiously.

"Oh my god, Ted can you believe this?!" She said, excitement coloring her voice. The man pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began to nervously wipe the sweat from his face.

"I honestly can't Cass," He said. Cass and Bill led the group over to their guest area, which held two long large couches just barely big enough for all of them, well except Sans and Alphys who opted to hang back out of the camera's view.

Once everyone was seated and comfortable, and the commercial break was quickly drawing to a close, the anchorwoman called over to her costar, "Hey Ted, you don't mind if I snag this interview do you?" Ted gave a nervous laugh.

"Not at all, Cass. I'll take the normal news if we get around to it." Cass flashed a brilliant smile.

"Thanks a million Ted!" She sat down next to Asgore on the couch he had all to himself, while the one off to stage left had Undyne and Papyrus. The human in headphones came up beside one of the two camera persons who had moved to this part of the set to film the interview, they held up a five with their finger before doing a silent countdown.

"Thank you for tuning in, lovely Ebbot City citizens, if you just switched channels let me remind you that we have just obtained a spontaneous interview with _actual, real-life monsters!_ " She turned to face Asgore, the camera zooming out to catch both him and Cassidy. "Now, I apologize for my rudeness, but I didn't catch any of your names-?"

"It is of no issue, miss, our arrival was quite sudden. I am King Asgore Dreemurr." The tall goat man smiled. The second camera took over, aimed directly at the other two monsters. Cassidy pointing at them off-screen to queue them for their introductions.

"I AM PAPYRUS, AMBASSADOR TO HUMANKIND!" Papyrus announced proudly.

"I'm Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard!" The fish woman beamed. Camera switching back to Cassidy, she had a look of astonishment on her face.

"Wow! So many important figures here in our studio!" She quickly straightened the note cards that had been hastily written by one of the writers during the commercial break. "I suppose that takes care of our first question asking what you all do..." She flipped to the next card. "You said you came out of a mountain? What was it like down there?"

"Would you like each of us to answer?" Asgore asked.

"Uh, sure!" She said enthusiastically.

"It was really wet where I was from," Undyne spoke first. "I'm from an area named Waterfall. There's streams and glowing crystals, the history of the monster human war, the dump...and the Echo Flower fields."

"It sounds...pretty. Wait. Did you say flowers? Underground?"

"Yeah! The Echo flowers, they're these glowing blue flowers that repeat whatever they hear." Cassidy's mouth hung open in awe.

"That sounds amazing," She took a breath in before turning to Papyrus, "And what about you, Mister Ambassador? Are you from 'Waterfall' too?"

"OH NO, I'M FROM SNOWDIN! IT'S A RELATIVELY SMALL VILLAGE JUST OUTSIDE WATERFALL. THERE'S A FOREST FULL OF TREES AND IT SNOWS QUITE FREQUENTLY."

"It snows? Underground?" She was in shock at this news.

"YES. SNOWDIN IS A PRETTY COLD PLACE, AND IT PROBABLY SNOWS BECAUSE OF MAGIC, OR MAYBE BECAUSE THE HUMID AIR COMING IN FROM WATERFALL FREEZES?" He shrugged.

"Magic." She was in total shock before she shook her head and turned to the King. "How about you, your highness? Are you from another place?"

"You could say that," He chuckled, "I'm sort of from all over. I was there when the first city was founded, named it myself. We expanded and I went on to name all subsequent settlements, though currently, I reside in New Home, specifically the Capital."

"You...founded the first city? How long ago were you trapped in the mountain?"

"Ah, let me see..." He ran his claws through his beard, "If I remember correctly it has been about 800 years. Give or take." the woman seemed at a loss for words.

"That...is incredible. You're over 800 years old?"

"937, actually." For what seemed like the 50th time today Cassidy felt her mouth hang open. With an audible click, she shut it again. As much as she wanted to ask about the King's seeming immortality or the casual mention of something like magic, Bill was signaling for her to go back to the cards.

"What do you think of the surface world so far?" There was a thoughtful pause from all of the monsters.

"I thought about how much everything has changed. It is one thing to see in pictures or movies that fell into the dump what humanity has made during our imprisonment, but another to see first hand how much different the landscape has become." Asgore said, voice hushed but still loud enough to be heard.

"Fresh air, the sun on my scales. It's probably the greatest thing I'll ever experience. Leaving that cave to breathe in that awesome clean air, see the sun for the first time, my very first sunset even." Undyne spoke in a calm, reverent tone unlike her normal brash one.

"I AGREE. SEEING THE SUN AND THE SKY FOR THE FIRST TIME FROM SOMEPLACE THAT WASN'T AN OLD TV SHOW WAS AMAZING. AND FEELING THE WIND! WE DON'T HAVE WINDS UNDERGROUND. IT IS AMAZING UP HERE, AND WE'VE ONLY BEEN FREE FOR A FEW HOURS. AND NOT TO MENTION THE STARS ONCE IT GOT DARK! UNDERGROUND ALL WE HAD WERE SOME GLOWING CRYSTALS IN THE ROOF OF THE CAVE THAT WE WOULD PRETEND WERE STARS, BUT THE REAL THING, IT'S JUST..." Papyrus trailed off, awe in his voice. "I CAN'T WAIT FOR EVERYONE ELSE TO BE ABLE TO SEE IT!" The news crew was listening with rapt attention, a few of them quietly letting tears slip past at the revelation of how much the monsters had been deprived.

There was a minute of silence where they allowed this information to sink in before Cassidy flipped to her next card. "What are your plans now that you're free?"

"I would like to work together with my Ambassador to secure a place for our people here on the surface," Asgore said, gesturing to Papyrus.

"I WOULD ALSO LIKE THAT. PLUS! I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DRIVE AND BUY A RED CONVERTIBLE!" Papyrus was almost vibrating with excitement at the prospect.

"Hmm." Undyne took a moment to think, her future as Captain of the Royal Guard seemed uncertain despite Asgore's reassurance. "If the Guard has to be disbanded then I'd like to become a police officer, so I can continue to pledge my life to uphold justice!" She beamed, happy with the numerous possibilities she had on the surface.

She looked down at her cards, the questions seeming mundane now. There was no way they'd get as heartfelt of an answer from 'What are your people's sporting pass-times?' or 'How do you speak English so well?' Bill was motioning for her to read at least one more question from the cards.

"So, what are your people's sporting pass-times?" She said, hoping she'll get some kind of answer.

"Well, it is not a sport per-say, but we do have a proud tradition amongst us monsters, though I think our Ambassador could better elaborate," Asgore answered before turning to Papyrus. Said skeleton perked up, excited to talk about puzzles.

"WE MONSTERS HAVE A LOVE FOR PUZZLES THAT GOES BACK MILLENNIA UPON MILLENNIA! SOME OF THE PUZZLES I, MYSELF, HAVE BUILT IN MY HOME OF SNOWDIN INCLUDE AN INVISIBLE MAZE WITH WALLS THAT ADMINISTER A SMALL ZAP IF YOU TOUCH THEM, SEVERAL PRESSURE-BASED TILE PUZZLES THAT YOU HAVE TO NAVIGATE CORRECTLY TO DISABLE SPIKE WALLS THAT IMPEDE PROGRESS, DELICIOUS PASTA-BASED DISTRACTIONS, AND MY GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR BRIDGE!"

"Gauntlet of Deadly Terror?" Cassidy repeated, a little afraid of what kind of puzzle could earn that name.

"YES, ONE OF MY BEST CHALLENGES! IT HAS FLAMETHROWERS, SPEARS, A FLAIL, A CANNON, AND! ONE SMALL PROBLEMATIC POOCH." Papyrus at this point noticed the looks of fear on many of the human's faces and quickly slid on a placating smile, "OF COURSE, I HAVE IT ACTIVATED ONLY FOR THOSE WHO ARE BOTH WILLING AND ABLE TO TAKE IT ON! OTHERWISE, IT IS RATHER...PAINFULLY UNFAIR. AND I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! FAIRNESS STANDARDS!"

Cassidy nodded her head, reassured by Papyrus' naturally disarming aura. "Well, that's all the time we have for this surprise interview, we need to get back to our planned stories for tonight. I hope you'll be able to find your place here, in our new shared world. We'll be right back with Ted after some more messages from our sponsors." And with that the human wearing headphones signaled again, the lights on the stage dimmed slightly, but were still bright enough for the humans to see.

With the cameras momentarily off some of the humans and monsters approach each other, and Papyrus quickly walked up to Cass, Sans falling in to step behind him.

"HELLO NEWS HUMAN CASS, IS IT ALRIGHT IF I ASK YOU QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SURFACE?" The reported looked pleasantly surprised but also excited, and she nodded eagerly.

"WHERE ARE WE?" She tilted her head not quite understanding the question until it truly struck her how little they knew about the surface.

"The city we're in? It's named Victoria." Cass paused, waiting for their next question.

"..." Papyrus brought a hand to his chin to think, "WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE KINGDOM, OR PERHAPS, COUNTRY, WE'RE IN?"

"The United States of America." Both of the skeletons seemed to take a moment to commit the name to memory before the taller one had a contemplative look on his face.

"DO ANY HUMANS REMEMBER US?" That was a question Cas hadn't been expecting but now that she's heard it she probably should have anticipated it.

"I..." She looked at both of them, the hope on their faces, "No. Monsters are myths and only children really believe in them. Though some adults believe in things like..." She snapped her fingers, trying to recall the name for what she was thinking of, "Cryptids! Basically, monsters that live in the woods and in rivers and stuff. There's also a lot of people who believe in the supernatural like demons and ghosts, but I'm not sure if you would consider those monsters-"

"ACTUALLY! UNDYNE'S NEIGHBORS ARE GHOSTS THAT RUN A SNAIL FARM!" For probably the thousandth time that night she wore an expression of awe.

"Well. That will probably cause an upset in the parascience community."

"BUT STILL...WE'VE BEEN COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN?" Papyrus seemed a bit crestfallen at the prospect of nearly all of monster kind being wiped out, the survivors shoved into a mountain, and then their existence promptly was forgotten.

"I'm afraid so..." She didn't like how sad this kind skeleton ambassador was becoming, "But I have no idea how they did! Monsters are so wonderful and amazing and...you said there was a war? But the lack of any records on it is really just baffling to me." Papyrus seemed to perk up and also contemplate that. "And besides! You're back now, and though...though it might be tough going for the time being I'm sure you'll all be able to have a happy life here." Papyrus seemed completely reinvigorated now.

"THANK YOU, HUMAN, YOU ARE A VERY GOOD PERSON." This warm moment was promptly interrupted by Sans.

"hey, i got a question," He started, lifting one hand to point at her shirt, "what's that on your shirt?" She looked down to see what he was pointing at, and once she saw there was nothing Sans let out a chuckle, "got ya."

"SANS! OH! MY! GOD!" Papyrus simply did not have time for his brother's tomfoolery embarrassing him like this.

* * *

Meanwhile, the government officials arrived at the ranger station, the two rangers had been anxiously waiting, a little afraid to tell them that all the monsters had left. One of the more decorated officials, wearing what seemed to be some caliber of military gear, approached Shauna.

"Where are the monsters?" His voice was like stone. Cold. Solid. Inarguable. Shauna flinched at the sound of it.

"A, uh, one ran back to the mountain to make sure all the monsters didn't just leave, two ran off right after that...the last four waited for a bit but then, I think they got paranoid? And ran off as well." A tense silence followed where the soldier mulled over her words, it seemed to stretch on forever until Gary interrupted.

"Hey! They're on the news!" Shauna, the 'commander', and the five or so other soldiers ran into the station, the old, small TV displaying the interview with a layer of static in both the image and sound. They gathered around, managing to catch the interview not long after it had started.

As the interview went on the apparent leader of the soldiers seemed to get more restless. He broke away from the viewing party and began to pull his men out of the cabin, throwing an order at the rangers to remain inside. The rangers did as they were told but kept close to the windows, trying to catch what the mysterious government officials were weren't huddled long before two broke off to run the direction they had come from while the remaining four including the man in charge started a brisk pace to get through the woods towards the city.

There was a moment of silence as they watched them leave.

"I don't trust this at all Shauna." Gary said in a hushed voice, as if they could still hear them.

"I don't either man...we need to do something."

"Like what? We don't even know what those guys are going to do to those innocent monsters." Shauna sighed and looked over at her friend.

"What else could they even be doing? They're going to round up the monsters! Probably seal off the mountain to keep curious people out...maybe...do something to us because we witnessed it..." She got progressively more perturbed the longer she considered what would happen. Gary noticed this and straightened out, trying to seem more confident to reassure his friend.

"Well, boss, we better think of a plan." Shauna gave him a careful look, noticing how he was afraid but determind to do something about what was happening.

"I think you're right..." She said, a sly smile sliding into place as a few ideas popped into her head.


	3. Black Op(tical Illusion)

A/N: Sorry, this chapter took so long, I'm not good at writing Toriel and got stuck on her part which I eventually changed from my original plan. I also made an AU that got super popular, it's called SkeleChara and it's about Papyrus resurrecting Chara as a skeleton monster whom he adopts and cares for as his own child.

Chapter 3: Black Op(tical Illusion)

Gary and Shauna hiked the mountain, going up the same direction they had seen Toriel go not even three hours previous. She had grabbed gear out of the storage in the station and a few other essentials attached to the ATV. They climbed in near silence, the only thing that kept the ominous darkness of the surrounding forest at bay was the soft sound of crickets and night birds.

"How do you suppose this plan is going to work, Shauna?" The man asked. They both stopped for a moment to continue looking at the trails the monsters had left behind in their rush down the mountain.

"Well, I figure, though we aren't guaranteed to completely counteract whatever the government is planning, a little warning to the monsters couldn't hurt anything." She found the trail again and they continued up.

"It could hurt us?"

Shauna gave him a look over her shoulder. "So you're backin' out?"

The man looked startled at the accusation. "No! Of course not! I was just…y'know." His face started to heat up in embarrassment, not that anyone knew but him, "I'm just, ugh. I'm too literal sometimes but like hell if I'm not going to help you or those monsters."

She smiled back at him. "Good to hear."

It was only but a few more minutes before they found a relatively large ledge that curved around the side of a steeper portion of the mountain. Following it they came upon the gaping entrance to a cave. Darker than even the forest below had been, they shared a glance before entering the home of the monsters.

The cave seemed to drag on for quite a while, the darkness stretching deeper. They didn't voice it, but the seemingly endless cavern that lacked all light and sound was beginning to unnerve both of them. Shauna put a hand on her subordinate's shoulder, pausing to look behind them. The opening of the cave seemed far enough away now that using a flashlight wouldn't be as risky.

She flicked hers on, leading the way as they approached an ornate doorway. Passing through they found themselves in a cavern with a patch of the stone ground dimly illuminated by moonlight. Beyond that there was another doorway, light spilling out of it. Entering, they found themselves in a warmly lit room, floor carpeted with golden flowers, in the center was an enormous throne.

They didn't get to admire the otherworldly place for long, as Toriel walked through the doorway having heard someone enter.

"Oh! It is you both, the humans from the human sentry station. What brings you here to the mountain?" She asks, smiling and tilting her head slightly.

"Sorry to bring bad news, but if our guess is correct, everyone else who came out of the mountain was apprehended by the government after making a surprise appearance on a news broadcast." Shauna said, face grim. Toriel's eyes widened, her mouth opening in shock. It stayed like that for a moment before a look crossed her face that was clear as day, the look of an angry mother. It struck fear into both of the rangers.

"I will not have another child taken from me!" she seemed to seethe fire from her unfiltered anger. She moved as if to exit the mountain, before being blocked by Gary and Shauna.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we think we know what will happen next and we need your help. You're far more useful here than out there, trying to take on the US army alone." Toriel stopped, accepting what Gary had said but still clearly frustrated.

"What do you think they will do?" She looked at them both in the eyes, one after the other. The maternal vibe was gone, replaced with something far older than any living human - an ancient Queen, a skilled strategist.

~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~

Flowey sat in the ruins, having recently turned back. He sighed as he presided over the flower patch. He suddenly shot as straight up as he could on his stem, aware of a sudden beeping that sounded like...a phone! Flowey reasoned that Frisk must have dropped it here on accident and hadn't noticed it missing. He quickly snatched it up with a vine and answered it, seeing it was a call from Papyrus.

"HELLO? WHOEVER THIS IS NEEDS TO HELP ME RELAY AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE!"

"What's wrong, Papyrus?"

"OH! HI, FLOWEY! I NEED YOU TO GIVE A MESSAGE TO MS. TORIEL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE HUMAN GOVERNMENT HAS CAPTURED US ALL! I'M AFRAID EVERYONE BACK IN THE UNDERGROUND WILL HAVE TO REMAIN FOR A WHILE LONGER, AND FIND A WAY TO CONCEAL THE EXITS. WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THEY JUST BARGE IN!"

Flowey remained calm, sure that if anything were to go catastrophically wrong then Frisk would be able to reload. All the same, if they were out of contact and saved at any point after something goes wrong for _himself_ there might be an extensive amount of time in captivity...being...experimented on by dumb humans who don't know what they're doing. Ultimately he decided on self preservation.

"Alrighty! You got it, Papyrus," he responded in the most cheerful way he could, which often sounded mildly sarcastic. "Just, uh, one question."

"N'YES?"

"Why didn't the humans take your phone away?"

"OH, THEY DID TAKE EVERYONE'S PHONES, EXCEPT MINE, BECAUSE I KEEP IT IN MY RIBCAGE. MY BATTLE BODY'S METAL PREVENTED ITS DETECTION! NYEH HEH HEH!"

"Huh. Well, try to keep it that way for as long as possible to keep us updated."

"OF COURSE! NOW I'VE GOT TO GO. PLEASE INFORM MS. TORIEL IMMEDIATELY." And with a bloop the call ended.

Flowey looked around the now dimly lit cave of flowers he assigned himself to watch over and sighed before disappearing into the ground.

~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~

He popped back up into the throne room, causing two weirdly dressed humans to jump away in surprise. Toriel, on the other hand, seemed to not recall the friendliness pellet incident from earlier that day, at least for the moment.

"Excuse me, miss!" He spoke, faux cheer on full blast. "I got a call from Papyrus and he told me to tell you that they've all been captured, and the human authorities are probably on their way to the mountain."

"Then it is as the humans say. We will need to construct illusions for every opening so they cannot find their way in." She turned to walk farther into the castle, Gary and Shauna following after her.

"Where are you going?" The woman called after her.

"I must find the most skilled illusionists to assist me. It has been awhile since I have performed this type of magic." The rangers just continued to follow her, not really wanting to be left alone in this unfamiliar place.

They walked up some stairs and seemed to enter a depressingly grey house. Besides the drab color scheme, it seemed to be rather cozy. They weren't there for much longer as they breezed through, and Toriel opened a door that could have been easily missed. Through the door and down several hallways and stairs they walked out into a city just as grey as the house, save for pops of color coming from the lights inside the houses and various rugs. Soon enough, the humans began passing by a few monsters who paid none of them any mind as they did not recognize them as the former queen nor a pair of humans. Most weren't out though, most were busy packing.

Soon, they came to a relatively open and populous square. Toriel stepped into the center, her authoritative manner already drawing the attention of nearby monsters without a word.

"Attention! I am looking for monsters capable of projecting a convincing illusion spell!" Monsters peeked out onto the square from doorways and window frames. "We must postpone our exit of the underground, for the human government has captured the king, captain, royal scientist, and ambassador, as well as two civilians. We must protect ourselves from a likely oncoming invasion from the humans. I will need a convincing projection of a rock wall." And with that, several monsters stepped forward.

~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~

The rangers began scaling down the mountain, occasionally having to hide from the personnel dispatched to find a way into the mountain. Luckily, with the warning from the rangers, they were able to get illusions cast over the entrances before they had arrived. Soon, they were upon the ranger station. They managed to make it inside to at least pretend to look like they hadn't moved when an unfamiliar person dressed in the same uniforms as everyone else on the mountain "escorted" (code for shoved) a _very_ familiar woman into the station with a camera person.

"You two," the incredibly obvious black ops looking man said, "take these two back down the mountain, along with yourselves. The park is closed to civilians which would include you both." Then he turned and left, with nary an additional word.

The reporter that was instantly recognized by Gary and Shauna to be Cassidy Embers from the channel 11 news, the very same woman who interviewed the monsters, stood straight and leveled them with a steely gaze. "You're not seriously going to listen to him, are you? Something is happening here and we all know it has to do with the monsters."

Gary and Shauna glanced at each other, then did a quick sweep of the station with their eyes. The man shrugged and the woman ranger nodded. She brought her hand to her chest, and visibly crossed her fingers.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we'll have to leave just as the man said." She once again brought attention to her crossed fingers by tapping them on her chest, "I will need to get back up the mountain to retrieve my purse from my own station, and for safety's sake I will need to have to take both of you, and my subordinate with me."

Cass gave one slow nod. "I see, then I suppose we have no choice." Shauna put her hand down, uncrossing her fingers.

"The ATV I rode here is too small for four people, so we'll have to walk."

They all quickly exited the building and did their best to avoid the government agents, which got harder as some were equipped with night vision, though when they were confronted on two occasions Shauna simply gave them the cover story she said back in the cabin. As the agents were unfamiliar with the forest, they simply believed her, unaware that the station her purse resided in was far and away from the path they took. Luckily for the rangers, the agents they happened to stumble into happened to be more dedicated to trying to find monsters than stopping two rangers escorting two civilians (and camera hidden in Gary's ranger duffle bag).

Soon, they came to the almost shelf-like rock formation on the mountain, quickly looking around to make sure they were not being watched. The rangers led the reporter and cameraman to what appeared to be a solid rock wall, moss and wild vegetation growing from the water-worn grooves of the mountain face. Cass brought her hand to the wall after Shauna motioned towards it. It felt as it looked, solid and unflinching, gritty in areas where the rock peaked through and slightly squishy when her hand ran over the moss.

Then Gary walked through the wall.

Cass and her camera person shared shocked looks before turning to Shauna, who reached out and grabbed them both. Instantly, they could see through the illusion and into a deep cave, which Shauna pulled them into. Through the entrance cavern and into the throne room they went, meeting Toriel in the flower carpeted room.

"Oh! Helpful humans, I did not expect to see you again so soon, and you brought friends?" she quickly looked at her ancient phone to check the time, "Well, the pie I made for the volunteer illusionists is almost done. I could make you all one as well, if you would like?"

"No, that's alright, Toriel." Shauna motioned at her coworker's duffle, which reminded him of the camera that he immediately took out and handed to the, as of yet, unnamed fourth human, "We're just going to show these two around, because I get the feeling video evidence of you all will be useful."

"Well, then go on ahead, I am sure you will love to see some of the unique ecosystems down here!" She smiled before walking away to tend to something.

~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~

Papyrus sat in the room, waiting for someone to come in again to interrogate him. It's been like that for a few days now. Initially, he was allowed to return to the sectioned off area where he could see his friends in similar holding cells. Once the humans realized he didn't sleep, which didn't take long as they were recording everyone, they kept him in the interrogation room all day and night. The humans coming in being his only indicator for what time of day it was. There were three of them working in shifts, which were interrupted by a 45 minute lunch break. He counted. The shift switches took about five minutes average.

Now, it was transitioning into a night shift, approximately 12:02 AM. The man coming in - named Allen, though it wasn't specified if that was a last name or a first - should be here in less than 3 minutes. He was bored out of his mind as they had been asking the same few questions over and over, most of which had the answer of "magic". From what he had overheard, most of his friends and his brother had been retired from interrogation. The only other person still being interrogated was Alphys, but only when someone else was in her room with her. Beyond that, he didn't know why the others had their questioning stopped while he didn't.

' _I MEAN, I GET WHY THEY KEEP ASKING ALPHYS QUESTIONS. SHE'S THE ROYAL SCIENTIST. BY ALL ACCOUNTS, IT MAKES SENSE TO CONTINUE ASKING HER QUESTIONS EVEN IF SHE GETS STRESSED OUT BY IT.'_ He thought about the potential reasons why they kept him in interrogation, until the door opened. Papyrus, without making any indication he even glanced at Allen (because he didn't), decided to ask him.

"WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING ME QUESTIONS WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO NOT BE STUCK IN A DULL ROOM WITH UNCOMFORTABLE CHAIRS?" He paused while the man jumped for a second at the sudden question, as he was used to Papyrus not saying anything unless he was spoken to first.

"Because you're the ambassador?" He said in a way that indicated he was confused by the question. Papyrus could have slapped his face at his own obliviousness there, but to be completely fair they had been giving him pre-made human food which he couldn't eat as is and was more difficult to add magic to, to make edible. Basically, he was very hungry and stressed out from all of this questioning.

"OH. OF COURSE." He looked to the bowl of hot soup he was carrying, likely for Papyrus to eat. He got food after every shift change and human lunch break. Whether or not he would be able to eat it was another matter entirely. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder whether Sans was in the same boat. The soup bowl was placed in front of him, the pleasant aroma of vegetable beef soup rising with the steam it gave off. Now, _this_ was something he'd be able to infuse with enough magic to be edible. He summoned a small green bone to place into the soup.

"Why do you do that? Is there something wrong with the food?"

Papyrus glanced up with his lightless sockets, the only indication he had looked up at all being the way the sockets would subtly move. He stirred the soup and thought of how strange this must appear to a human if they were not informed, which seems unlikely as both he and Sans _needed_ to magically infuse their food to eat it.

"I AM INFUSING IT WITH MAGIC SO I CAN EAT IT. IF I DON'T IT WILL JUST FALL RIGHT OUT OF THE BACK OF MY JAW. USUALLY DOWN INTO MY SHIRT AND INTO THE INSIDE OF MY BODY AND CLOTHING." The man looked horrified at that answer, which made Papyrus even more worried about Sans. "BY THE WAY, HAS MY BROTHER, SANS, BEEN EATING? HE ALSO HAS TO DO THIS OR ELSE HE CAN'T EVEN GET SOLID FOOD PAST HIS TEETH. BECAUSE THEY DON'T OPEN."

"I...I don't know? I'm assigned to you, not Sans."

Papyrus frowned, his brow bones pulling down and together to make a rather intimidating face. "WELL. YOU BETTER CHECK ON HIM AND FIND OUT. **NOW**." The tone he was using and the face he was making - both first experiences for the man - sent him scrambling back towards the door. He swiped his card and ran out as quickly as he could. Once he was gone Papyrus began to sip on the soup. He was glad to be rid of the human while he ate as he didn't like the way humans stared at him while he chewed. They always looked at him like he was some science experiment, so interesting but utterly repulsive.

Even though he hated eating messily, he tried to eat the whole bowl before Allen got back, lest he deal with uncomfortable staring. Just as he had managed to finish it, Allen came back in, still looking a little frightened. He raised a brow bone as if to ask 'WELL?' The human stood straighter to collect himself.

"He's fine." The total stillness from Papyrus, along with the unnerving stare he was giving the human, made them elaborate, "They noticed right away that he couldn't open his mouth and so he had been put on a liquid diet."

The ambassador nodded. "ALRIGHTY. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW NO-" Before Papyrus could finish his sentence there was a knock on the door.

Allen snapped to look at it, confused as to what could have changed since he was last outside the room. He stood and answered the door, and a voice began to immediately instruct him in a hushed tone, an attempt to keep the ambassador from overhearing but pointless as he had excellent hearing.

"We have been instructed to let them go. You recall the debriefing about the news broadcast? Well, the teams were still unable to locate the entrance to the mountain, and coupled with the pressure by the public to release them, we've decided there's no way we could cover this up. Inform it that we're releasing it and its friends."

The human at the door walked away, and Papyrus took a moment to let his metaphorical skin crawl at being referred to as an 'it'. Though some monsters did not mind 'it' pronouns, Papyrus was not one of them, preferring exclusively he/him pronouns, not to mention the inherent disrespect and contempt in their voice as he said it. Once he had taken his moment to recover from his discomfort, he refocused on the situation, aware of how Allen had shut the door and turned to face him.

"We are being instructed to inform you that you are going to be let go, so prepare yourself to be released."

Papyrus stood and brandished his signature skeleton grin. "WOWIE! THIS IS GREAT! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I'D GET TO EXPERIENCE FREEDOM FROM HUMAN IMPRISONMENT TWICE IN MY LIFE!"

Allen seemed to find the ground very interesting before he turned and left out the door, likely to await further instruction. Papyrus began to jog little laps around the small room, having not had the chance to properly exercise the last few days.

As he ran, he went over in his head certain topics he'd been mentally marinating to find the proper solution towards, like a puzzle but the puzzle was monster civil rights and how to achieve them. Firstly, there was the issue of obtaining land for the monsters to live, which in the end would likely come down to monsters using the funds they will get in a currency exchange to buy houses while monsters unable to would be shuffled into public housing. There was also the issue of currency exchange, but according to what little info he was able to pry out of some of the humans asking him questions, that might end relatively well for monsters.

As he reviewed these thoughts, time passed without much notice, much like how it would when he couldn't sleep at night and thought up plans to distract him from the inevitable night thoughts which often were negative and an abysmal void of uselessness. Soon the door opened, revealing a human that Papyrus had not seen during his internment.

"You are to follow me." They spoke in short, clipped sentences, "I will lead you to where your friends are. You will board a bus and be dropped off back in the city of Victoria where you were taken from. You will not speak of this incident besides to say that we simply asked questions. You may not elaborate."

"OH, THAT'S JUST ADORABLE. HOW ABOUT YOU BUY MY SILENCE BY APPROVING CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS FOR MONSTERS?"

"We assumed that is what you would want, and, as such, bills have been introduced to the House. As public pressure and the public's current opinion of monsters being both high and positive respectfully, they are likely to be passed. I hope the laws are to your liking, Mr. Ambassador." Papyrus squinted, careful not to agree nor disagree as he did not know the exact terminology of the bills in question and would not pledge his silence on useless paper nor damn good proposals by refusing. They began to leave the room, and he followed as instructed.

"I SUPPOSE EVERYONE WILL KNOW WHAT I THINK WHEN I GET TO READ THEM." He responded, taking in the blandly sterile hallway, seeing a few doors open up ahead, his friends and brother exiting their rooms.

"I'm sure we will." The human responded, collecting the rest of the monsters and telling them to follow as they did with Papyrus.

Papyrus smiled upon seeing his brother for the first time in days, and he could see some of the tension leave Sans' smile when he saw Papyrus was unharmed. Undyne was even more relieved to see Papyrus was okay, or at the very least she expressed it more. She caused everyone to stop by tackling him and suplexing him in one movement, she was so relieved.

Some nearby guards approached, thinking their prisoners had snapped and were trying to kill each other, but stopped when Papyrus easily recovered acting fake annoyed by the affection.

"WILL THE SUPLEXES OF GENUINE FRIENDSHIP EVER CEASE!?" Undyne cackled in response before clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Nope!" The uptight human that head been leading them pointedly cleared their throat.

"If you're quite finished I would like to lead you out of the facility some time this week." Their tone was somehow more sour than before.

Upon exiting the building all the monsters present took in the night sky. Where they were the stars were even more visible than they had been on the mountain, as they were even farther from human towns than before. The human, as impersonal as they have been allowed this for a silent moment before they turned to the bus that was picked due to the size of the monsters.

They opened the door, the scrape and clank drawing the monsters attention as a new human with two guards entered the bus through the now open door. The sour human walked away, not looking back. The new human wore a name tag that said "Jen" as well as dirty jeans, a band t-shirt, and an aged flannel jacket, her wiry, gray-streaked hair barely contained by a baseball cap with a bus company logo on it. She honestly looked like she didn't need guards but there they were.

"Alright," she said, her voice rough from smoking, if the smell was anything to go by, "I was told to tell you that this ain't 'standard procedure' and normally a driver for this bus would be a Fed or whatever, but none of those ninnies wanted to be on a bus with a bunch a giant magic Halloween decorations." She spat away from the monsters and towards the building, "So they shopped around for someone with a minimum Class C driver's license who doesn't give a shit. Since I am your driver I'm laying down _my rules_ , not the Fed's rules." She lifted a hand, flicking out a finger with each rule.

"I was told you have magic, well I want none of that on my bus, nothing against you, I'd say the same thing to Edward Scissorhands. No screaming on the bus, one of the suits said a few of you tend to yell, but if you do that I am pulling the bus over until you shut your trap. Finally, I play my own music, I don't do requests, whether it's on the song or the volume." She curled her fingers back into a fist before sticking out her thumb and gesturing to the bus, "Now, get on."


End file.
